Asian Team Champs

Clean Sweep For Malaysia In Asian Team Championships

Malaysia celebrated a clean sweep in the Asian Squash Championships for the second successive time after winning both the Men's and Women's Team titles to add to the individual trophies won earlier in the week in Kuwait.

Hosts Kuwait, celebrating their maiden appearance in an Asian team final, put up a brave performance against favourites Malaysia. Mohd Azlan Iskandar, winner of the individual gold medal for the first time, beat Kuwait's Abdullah Almezayen 10-8, 9-2, 9-6 to put the top seeds ahead.

But, to the delight of local fans, Ali Alramezi pounced back to beat third string Malaysian Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan 9-2, 10-8, 9-4 in 67 minutes to tie the tie.

However, Ong Beng Hee - the Malaysian number two who was denied a fifth successive individual gold medal by team-mate Iskandar - beat Kuwait hero Salem F Mohammed 9-3, 9-0, 9-8 in 41 minutes to give Malaysia the men's gold medal for the third time since 2000.

In the play-off for third place, Pakistan - denied a place in the final by Kuwait for the first in the event's history - salvaged some pride by beating India 2/1.

Malaysia beat Hong Kong in the women's final for the third time - but for the first time were taken the full distance. Six-time individual champion Nicol David beat Hong Kong rival Rebecca Chiu 9-1, 9-5, 9-0 in the opening runner to put Malaysian ahead. But Joey Chan forced a decider when she defeated Malaysia's Delia Arnold 9-3, 9-3, 5-9, 9-2 in a tense third string encounter.

But experienced Sharon Wee saved the day with a 9-6, 9-2, 6-9, 9-1 defeat of Hong Kong's Elise Ng to give the title to Malaysia for the fourth time in a row.

Japan claimed the bronze medal for the third time by beating South Korea 2/0 in the third place play-off.

Hosts Kuwait Conquer Pakistan In Historic Asian Upset
In the most remarkable upset in the 27-year history of the event, hosts Kuwait the beat former champions Pakistan in the semi-finals of the Asian Squash Team Championships to deny the region's long-time rulers of men's squash a place in the final for the first time.

Pakistan won the inaugural championship in 1981 - and continued to rule unopposed in Asia until losing to Malaysia in the 2000 final.

But determined efforts by unsung Kuwaiti heroes Salem F Mohammed and Abdullah Almezayen consigned Pakistan to semi-final losers in the 14^th staging of the event. Mohammed, aged 20 and the world No 253 in June 2006, despatched Pakistan's world No 69 Yasir Butt 9-7, 9-5, 3-9, 4-9, 9-7 in 78 minutes.

Abdullah Almezayen, also a 20-year-old - who reached the semi-finals of the individual event as a 9/16 seed - then battled back from two games down to overcome Pakistan No1 Shahid Zaman 6-9, 5-9, 9-3, 9-5, 9-2 in 67 minutes to clinch the hosts' sensational victory.

First-time finalists Kuwait will now meet Malaysia in the final after the defending champions beat India 2/0 in the other semi-final.

In the women's event, title-holders Malaysia beat Japan 2/0 and will meet Hong Kong in the final for the third successive time.

Men's final:

MALAYSIA bt KUWAIT 2-1

Mohd Azlan Iskandar bt Abdullah Almezayen 10-8, 9-2, 9-6 (43m)

Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan lost to Ali Alramezi 2-9, 8-10, 4-9 (67m)

Ong Beng Hee bt Salem F Mohammed 9-3, 9-0, 9-8 (41m)

3rd place play-off:

PAKISTAN bt INDIA 2-1

Yasir Butt lost to Saurav Ghosal 8-10, 9-4, 5-9, 1-9 (52m)

Bilal Zaman bt Siddharth Suchde 9-2, 7-9, 9-10, 9-5, 9-1 (79m)

Majid Khan bt Ritwik Bhattacharya 9-4, 1-9, 5-9, 9-3, 9-1 (92m)

5th place play-off:

HONG KONG bt JAPAN 2-0

Dick Lau bt Jun Matsumoto 9-5, 9-0, 9-2 (35m)

Anson Kwong bt Yuta Fukui 9-3, 9-3, 9-2 (36m)

7th place play-off:

SOUTH KOREA bt SRI LANKA 2-1

Lee Nyeon-Ho lost to Navin Samarasinghe 5-9, 9-4, 4-9, 5-9 (48m)

Se Hyun Lee bt Eranga Amunagama 9-3, 9-6, 9-2 (12m)

Kim Hyun-Dong bt Anura Hewage w/o

9th place play-off:

QATAR bt CHINA 3-0

Mohammed Al Marri bt Meng Xiaomin 9-10, 9-3, 9-5, 9-2 (60m)

Abdul Rahman Al-Malki bt Pinghua Cai 9-1, 9-0, 9-0 (12m)

Ahmad Mohd Al Tamimi bt Ren Zengli 9-2, 6-9, 9-4, 9-0 (30m)

11th place play-off:

IRAN bt CHINESE TAIPEI 2-1

Mohammad Hossei Jafari Nadoushan bt Chang Chun-Yu 9-2, 9-0, 9-0 (16m)

Alireza Sanaei lost to Cheng Yao Huang 4-9, 3-9, 3-9 (37m)

Seyed Mohammad Hossein Sanaee bt Chuang Kai-Han 9-0, 9-0, 9-1 (14m)

13th place: MACAU

Men's semi-finals:

MALAYSIA bt INDIA 2-0

Ong Beng Hee bt Ritwik Bhattacharya 10-9, 10-8, 9-3 (41m)

Mohd Azlan Iskandar bt Saurav Ghosal 6-9, 9-5, 9-0, 9-4 (62m)

KUWAIT bt PAKISTAN 2-0

Salem F Mohammed bt Yasir Butt 9-7, 9-5, 3-9, 4-9, 9-7 (78m)

Abdullah Almezayen bt Shahid Zaman 6-9, 5-9, 9-3, 9-5, 9-2 (67m)

5th - 8th place play-offs:

JAPAN bt SOUTH KOREA 2-1

Takanori Shimizu lost to Kim Hyun-Dong 6-9, 1-9, 8-10 (64m)

Jun Matsumoto bt Lee Nyeon-Ho 10-8, 9-7, 9-5 (24m)

Yuta Fukui bt Lee Seung Taek 9-1, 9-4, 9-1 (30m)

HONG KONG bt SRI LANKA 2-0

Wai Hang Wong bt Eranga Amunagama 9-5, 9-0, 9-1 (25m)

Dick Lau bt Navin Samarasinghe 9-2, 9-4, 9-2 (33m)

Women's final:

MALAYSIA bt HONG KONG 2-1

Nicol David bt Rebecca Chiu 9-1, 9-5, 9-0 (21m)

Delia Arnold lost to Joey Chan 3-9, 3-9, 9-5, 2-9 (48m)

Sharon Wee bt Elise Ng 9-6, 9-2, 6-9, 9-1 (37m)

3rd place play-off:

JAPAN bt SOUTH KOREA 2-0

Chinatsu Matsui bt Park Eun Ok 9-4, 9-6, 9-2 (51m)

Misaki Kobayashi bt Song Sun-Mi 9-2, 9-4, 9-3 (27m)

5th place play-off:

INDIA bt CHINA 2-0

Joshna Chinappa bt Wu Zhenzhen 9-6, 9-0, 9-1 (19m)

Surbhi Misra bt Xiu Chen 9-0, 9-2, 9-0 (15m)

7th place play-off:

CHINESE TAIPEI bt MACAU 2-0

Hung Ning Yu bt Si Man Wendy Chan 6-9, 9-4, 9-6, 9-0 (36m)

Hsieh Ssu Han bt Sam Hei Tong 9-0, 9-2, 9-3 (21m)

Women's Semi-finals:

MALAYSIA bt JAPAN 2-0

Sharon Wee bt Kozue Onizawa 9-6, 9-5, 9-2 (27m)

Nicol David bt Chinatsu Matsui 9-2, 9-5, 9-3 (27m)

HONG KONG bt SOUTH KOREA 2-0

Elise Ng bt Ahn Eun Chan 9-7, 9-3, 9-5 (45m)

Rebecca Chiu bt Park Eun Ok 9-1, 9-3, 9-3 (26m)

5th - 8th place play-offs:

CHINA bt MACAU 2-0

Jiang Li bt Maria Estela Gageiro Madeira 9-0, 9-0, 9-0 (14m)

Wu Zhenzhen bt Si Man Wendy Chan 9-2, 9-3, 9-0 (15m)

INDIA bt CHINESE TAIPEI 2-0

Surbhi Misra bt Li Chun Ping 9-1, 9-0, 9-0 (10m)

Anwesha Reddy bt Hung Ning Yu 9-0, 9-0, 9-1 (18m)